DERBY — City school and athletic officials are inviting parents and their kids to an informational meeting Monday (April 18) in hopes of boosting participation in Derby’s sports programs.
The Derby Sports Alliance, a unified organization comprised of Derby youth sports leaders, parks and recreation, and Derby schools’ athletic officials, will host the event at 6 p.m. at Derby High School, 35 Chatfield St.
Parents and guardians are encouraged to attend with their kids ages four to 14 to learn about what sports programs are available.
Coaches and leaders representing Derby school athletics, Derby Youth Soccer, Derby Pop Warner Football, Derby Pop Warner Cheerleading, Derby Recreational Basketball, Derby Little League, Derby Renegades Wrestling and Derby Running Club will be on hand to discuss their programs.
Those who attend Monday’s meeting will learn about these programs, when their seasons run and how and when to register their kids for participation. Parents will also learn about the many volunteer opportunities available — with no experience necessary — to get involved.
If that’s not enough, the event will feature free food and free raffles.
DHS Athletic Director Teg Cosgriff encouraged residents to learn of the many benefits of kids participating in sports, from increased physical activity to the formation of social bonds to improved academic performance.
Cosgriff said the alliance was born out of a need to increase youth participation in sports from an early age, which helps to build a strong high school sports program. Cosgriff said participation in recreational youth sports, as well as parent volunteerism, has been waning. A lot of it, he said, can be attributed to increasing costs to participate, as well as time commitments.
“Over time the Derby Sports Alliance will create the culture we wish to have and address educational based athletics values like character, integrity and sportsmanship,” Cosgriff said.
Cosgriff said the numbers have been falling over the past couple of years.
“In 2020 – 2021 only 32 percent of the Derby High School student population participated in at least one sport,” he said. “That is a very low number if you wish to have a thriving and successful program that sustains itself. Our ambitious five-year goal is to get over 70 percent participation at Derby High School, while also promoting more multi-sport participation.”
DHS’s varsity football team had to forfeit its last five games of the season due to a lack of healthy players necessary to fill the roster. Some of that was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cosgriff said the football players, however, continued to practice and condition for the rest of the season, and next fall is already looking better, with a new head coach in place, as well.
Participation in high school sports this year is already on the rise, since emerging from the pandemic, Cosgriff said, with about 45 percent of DHS students playing at least one sport for the 2021 – 2022 school year.
The pandemic, Cosgriff said, created challenges as kids and their families “became disengaged from interaction and group activity.” But with the pandemic hopefully in the rearview mirror, Cosgriff said he’s finding more middle school students and high school freshmen and sophomores are inclined to reconnect with sports.
Board of Education Chairman Jim Gildea said a major goal of the Alliance is to get the city onboard with helping to give more of a financial boost to youth sports programs.
“I think we as a city have to do some soul searching on how much assistance we want to provide our feeder sports programs,” Gildea said. “Many of the programs, like Pop Warner and Little League, are pay-to-play … and are charging triple figures for students to participate. That is simply too high to expect citizens from a distressed municipality to pay. Until we make it more reasonable from a cost perspective to participate in youth sports, we will always be playing a numbers game. The city must do a better job in supporting our youth programs, and provide more financial relief to help defray the costs of these programs.”
Gildea noted interest in all DHS sports is not waning, and said track and basketball attracted big numbers this year.
Cosgriff is excited to help drum up support for a brighter future of Derby sports.
“Derby is an amazing community with a proud tradition that has special talent that we must tap into and cultivate at a younger age,” he said. “This will be done through our work in the Derby Sports Alliance and our high school coaches and student-athletes creating bonds and relationships with our Derby youth. Build it and they will come.”
Anyone with questions can contact Cosgriff @ tcosgriff@derbyps.org.
